CC 303/352 CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY

DR GOFF

KEY TO IN-CLASS TEST 2

Dr Goff graded A-Miller; JP Stemwedel graded to the end of the alphabet.

The best essays were free from errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar and syntax. They were organized into paragraphs and had a thesis which they supported with detailed evidence from the myths.

1) Hades: the main points that you needed to cover were the geography, the systems of rewards and punishments, reincarnation in Plato and Vergil, the attitude of the dead to their fate, why the travellers are in Hades and the significance of the people that they meet.

2) Transfer of power: although there are varieties of this transfer, it was important to deal with some examples of the death of the father. Other types of transfer include between men and women and between cities. You did not get a great grade for writing your 'women' essay under this heading, nor for discussing quest and test without discussing the death of the father. You needed to remark on the accidental nature of some of these deaths, and certainly, in the case of Heracles, on the outrageous nature of the requests that he makes to Hyllus. If you dealt with the death of the father to some extent, it was fine to concentrate otherwise on transfer of power from men to women or on transfer between cities. It was not fine simply to recount the myths without pointing out how the transfer operates within each.

3) Heracles: as animal, you needed to mention his lionskin and club, rages, gluttony, promiscuity, animals in Labors, and association with Centaurs (examples here please). As god, you needed to mention divine paternity, culture hero, hero in philosophy, promised immortality for Labors, mortal part burned away, apotheosis, stays in Olympus and marries Hebe (Youth). It was good to point out that in the Odyssey he is also in Hades. As human: there were many possibilities and you needed to cover a few of them.